This blog provides supplementary material for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Gospel Doctrine Sunday School Lessons to enhance personal understanding or family study. It is not an official Church site, nor is it endorsed by the Church, but simply represents the personal research and testimony of the author. For the official Church website, go to www.lds.org.

Friday, April 6, 2012

King Benjamin then called a general conference of the church, with every family pitching their tents toward the tower from which he would speak.He counseled them to “hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view.” (Mosiah 2:9)

King Benjamin reminded his people that, just like our General Authorities today, he was an ordinary man who did ordinary work and suffered ordinary infirmities just like them, but who was allowed by the Lord to be a spiritual as well as temporal ruler over the people.

Today we are going to play some General Conference games—hooray!Since we recently had General Conference, we’ll refresh the words of the prophets in our minds.

(If you prefer instead to focus on King Benjamin's teachings on the Atonement in Mosiah 3, I can't do better than Elder Bednar's April 2012 Ensign article, which you can find here.)

GAME #1:WHAT WAS MY LINE?

To prepare this game, post pictures of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve.Hand out wordstrips with their previous occupations on them, and their military or missionary service if you like, but no names, and have the students try to match them up with the correct apostle. ( If you don’t have pictures, just write their names on the board.)

1.President Thomas S. Monson

2.President Henry B. Eyring

3.President Deiter F. Uchtdorf

4.President Boyd K. Packer

5.Elder L. Tom Perry

6.Elder Russell M. Nelson

7.Elder Dallin H. Oaks

8.Elder M. Russell Ballard

9.Elder Richard G. Scott

10.Elder Robert D. Hales

11.Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

12.Elder David A. Bednar

13.Elder Quentin L. Cook

14.Elder D. Todd Christofferson

15.Elder Neil L. Anderson

ANSWERS:

1.TSM: Newspaperman (served in the U.S. Naval Reserves)

2.HBE: Professor at Stanford, Commissioner of Church Education (served in the U.S. Air Force)

3.DFU: Airline Pilot (served as a fighter pilot with the West German Air Force)

4.BKP: Seminary Teacher (served as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Force)

5.LTP: Retail Business (served as a U.S. Marine)

6.RMN: Heart Surgeon (served as a medic in the U.S. Army)

7.DHO: Utah Supreme Court Justice (served in the Utah National Guard)

8.MRB: Car Dealer, also a direct descendant of Hyrum Smith (served a mission to England)

9.RGS: Nuclear Engineer (served a mission to Uruguay)

10.RDH: President of Papermate, V.P. of Max Factor, head of Hughes Television, President of Chesebrough-Pond’s (served as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force)

11.JRH: Institute Teacher, President of BYU (served a mission to England)

12.DAB: Professor, President of BYU-Idaho (served a mission to Germany)

13.QLC: Lawyer, President of California Healthcare System (served a mission to England)

14.DTC: Lawyer (served a mission to Argentina)

15.NLA: V.P. of Morton Plant Health System (served a mission to France)

GAME #2:WHAT IS MY LINE?

Read the quotes and have the class answer the name of the general authority who made the statement.

1.“One of the great discoveries of parenthood is that we learn far more about what really matters from our children than we ever did from our parents.”

2.“It needs to be taught and understood that we love and respect all of the people whom Lehi described [in his vision of the Tree of Life].”

3.“It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.”

4.“I also see unselfish latter-day saints adopting children, including those with special needs, and seeking to provide foster children the hope and opportunities denied them by earlier circumstances.”

5.“Each organ of your body is a wondrous gift from God.”

6.“A statement made by one leader on a single occasion often represents a personal, though well-considered opinion, not meant to be official or binding for the whole church.”

7.“Whether we are young or old, what we do today determines the service we will be able to render and enjoy tomorrow.”

8.“When couples marry and make commitments to each other, they greatly increase their chances of economic well-being.”

9.“Spiritual communication can be enhanced by good health practices.”

10.“What thinks Christ of me?”

11.“Unlike toy boats, we have been provided divine attributes to guide our journey.We enter mortality not to float with the moving currents of life, but with the power to think, to reason, and to achieve.”

12.“Neither the Bible nor the Book of Mormon in and of themselves is sufficient.”

13.“The ultimate end of all activity in the church is to see a husband and his wife and their children happy at home, protected by the principles and laws of the gospel, sealed safely in the covenants of the everlasting priesthood.”

ANSWERS

1.President Packer

2.Elder Cook

3.Elder Holland

4.Elder Oaks

5.Elder Nelson

6.Elder Christofferson

7.Elder Hales

8.Elder Ballard

9.Elder Scott

10.Elder Anderson

11.President Monson

12.Elder Perry

13.President Packer

GAME #3:FINISH THE LINE

Depending on the maturity of the class, you can hand out papers with the questions to every class member to fill out and then check them together, you can hand out individual questions to individual class members and have everyone try to guess, or you can hand out individual questions and individual answers to class members and have one person read a question, and have hopefully the person with the correct answer fill in the blank.

1.“If the foundation of ___ is not embedded in our hearts, the power to endure will crumble.–President Eyring

2.“The ______ is the most important social unit in time and eternity.” --Elder Nelson

4.“Worthiness and willingness—not experience, expertise or education—are the qualifications for _______________.”--Elder Bednar

5.“There is someone you can forgive.There is someone you can thank.There is someone you can _____.” –President Eyring

6.“A___________ is an escape valve for the pressures of life.” –Elder Scott

7.“Heaven is filled with those who have this in common:______________.”--President Uchtdorf

8.“I hope we are reading _________ with our children regularly.”--Elder Cook

9.“The sacrament gives us an opportunity to come to ourselves and experience a mighty change of ____.” –Elder Hales

10.“No ____ will last for forever.” –Elder Packer

11.“Before I hear those words ‘well done’ from my Heavenly Father, I hope I hear them from ________.” –Elder Packer

12.“I heard many years ago that surely the thing that God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of ________.”--Elder Holland

13.“Family time is ______time.”--Elder Packer

14.“____ is a mistake that keeps on just keeps on giving.Obviously, we suffer a little when some misfortune befalls us, but ____ requires us to suffer all good fortune that befalls everyone we know!”--Elder Holland

15.“It is possible to be active in the _____ and inactive in the _____.” Elder Donald L. Hallstrom

ANSWERS

1.Faith

2.Family

3.“Stop it!”

4.Priesthood ordination

5.Serve

6.Sense of humor

7.They are forgiven and they forgive

8.Book of Mormon

9.Heart

10.Pain

11.Mortal father

12.Being merciful

13.Sacred

14.Envy

15.Church, Gospel

GAME #4: TOE THE LINE

This is not really a game, but a challenge.

Enos reported that the people of Nephi had “exceedingly many prophets among us.And the people were a stiffnecked people, hard [or slow] to understand.”(Enos 1:22; you may also want to read verse 23.)

Are we like this?If not, prove it!Write down (if you haven’t already) the items of counsel from General Conference that you personally received (read the talks if you’ve forgotten or if you missed them), and make a plan to implement them in your life, and then check yourself every Sabbath before going to Sacrament Meeting and renewing your covenants.

Thanks so much for your hard work. I live in NC and use your materials to supplement my lesson several times per month. My teenagers really liked your conference trivia game and it helped to get their attention to start the lesson.

Followers

About Me

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). I live in Cache Valley, Utah; I am married to a fabulous computer scientist/engineer who keeps me real; I am a piano teacher and Young Women President; I am blessed to be the mother of a large number and wide variety of delightful and unpredictable children; and I am now thrilled to be working towards a Bachelor of Music degree at Utah State University.